Maybe she figures she's going to be stuck in the carpool lane every afternoon anyway -- might as well be picking up her own kid as well.

We had two nannies (not at the same time) who had a child close in age to one of our DC. Both ended up quitting due to school issues. One decided to apply to private shortly after our oldest started at a private school. We helped her navigate the admissions process, gave her time off to do tours, etc. It was a big disappointment for her when he wasn't accepted. We helped her with the public school lottery and he was accepted to a good school, but she decided to move out of DC for better schools and could no longer work for us in DC due to commute.

The other nanny applied to a private school outside of DC which cost much less. When her DC was accepted she asked for a significant raise and modified hours - within 3 months of working for us. My DH and I were very clear on the schedule requirements when we hired her and couldn't meet her demands.

I believe the OP's post is real - who wouldn't want to provide for their own child what the kids in their care are receiving? However, private school is a luxury when you have good public schools as an alternative. Both of our nannies drove newer/nicer cars and had more expensive cell phones than my DH and I. Their kids had expensive bday parties at bowling alleys, etc. while we were having them at the park or at home. A lot of people strive to live beyond their means - not just nannies. But they don't make for very desirable employees - at work or at home.

She thinks her kid will get accepted and be able to keep up? Oh, those silly, silly poors.

Don't you just hate that when she gets in free and you have to pay??

Aren't admission need-blind?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You might want to look up "ersatz" before you use it again.

Heck, I'll bite! (More fun to discuss words than an obviously phony original post that people going for like hungry carp.)

"Ersatz" means an artificial substitute, with a connotation of lower or shoddy quality. It's a German word going back to the 19th century. I take it you think it should be retired from the language because it was also used to describe items in Germany in World War II, so it is associated with Nazis? It seems to still be in use, including in the New York Times crossword, http://www.nytcrossword.com/2013/11/1114-13-new-york-times-crossword.html, so I don't think it's been retired from circulation as a Nazi word.

Not the PP, but I'm guessing that the PP objected to the use of the word "ersatz" because it doesn't mean what the ersatz-using PP seems to think it means.

And for what it's worth, "ersatz" in German just means alternative or substitute.

Paging William Safire!

Here's from the Oxford Dictionary online http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/english/ersatz:

1(of a product) made or used as a substitute, typically an inferior one, for something else:
ersatz coffee
MORE EXAMPLE SENTENCES
SYNONYMS
1.1 not real or genuine:
ersatz emotion

Both the "inferior substitute" or the "not real or genuine" would work here.

If Safire answers, that would be quite a surprise.

Yes, yes, Safire is dead. He would have liked this particular debate, though -- the wartime angle, the Germanic etymology, the crazy housewives bickering.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You might want to look up "ersatz" before you use it again.

Heck, I'll bite! (More fun to discuss words than an obviously phony original post that people going for like hungry carp.)

"Ersatz" means an artificial substitute, with a connotation of lower or shoddy quality. It's a German word going back to the 19th century. I take it you think it should be retired from the language because it was also used to describe items in Germany in World War II, so it is associated with Nazis? It seems to still be in use, including in the New York Times crossword, http://www.nytcrossword.com/2013/11/1114-13-new-york-times-crossword.html, so I don't think it's been retired from circulation as a Nazi word.

Not the PP, but I'm guessing that the PP objected to the use of the word "ersatz" because it doesn't mean what the ersatz-using PP seems to think it means.

And for what it's worth, "ersatz" in German just means alternative or substitute.

Paging William Safire!

Here's from the Oxford Dictionary online http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/english/ersatz:

1(of a product) made or used as a substitute, typically an inferior one, for something else:
ersatz coffee
MORE EXAMPLE SENTENCES
SYNONYMS
1.1 not real or genuine:
ersatz emotion

Both the "inferior substitute" or the "not real or genuine" would work here.

If Safire answers, that would be quite a surprise.

Sorry, I agree with the sticklers who say that "ersatz" is a little more nuanced than just "fake."

(I would *never* correct anyone's grammar and diction in person, but I do feel comfortable weighing in on a good word debate.)

I'm rooting for the nanny's kid! Hope he's the real deal and gets in!

Anonymous wrote:Ah, the ersatz erudition of a writer with a tin ear and online access to a thesaurus....

You're a bulldog! Can't let it go, eh? Hee, hee. (But don't worry -- all your friends and family members love it when you correct their grammar and diction -- they find it charming.)

Ah, the ersatz erudition of a writer with a tin ear and online access to a thesaurus....

http://i.word.com/idictionary/ersatz

Some additional synonyms: "bogus," "fake" and "sham" -- all of which I think do describe the original post. I guess at least it's a good thing that so many people are genuinely angry even if it's a phony original post.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Even if the scenario were fictional, the post wouldn't be ersatz.

Different poster, but . . . ersatz post = fake post.

Hilarious how that one person can't admit they weren't as knowledgeable about language as they thought. Lol.

I don't think that ersatz post = fake post. Ersatz means "inferior substitute", not just "fake" in general.

Although, on the other hand, you could say that this post is is an inferior substitute for a good troll post. If it is a troll post, it's nowhere near the quality I have come to expect from trolls on DCUM.

The link to the Oxford Dictionary had "not genuine" as the other definition. "Not genuine" means . . . fake. The example given, "ersatz emotion," also supports the "fake" or "phony" alternate meaning of the word.

Maybe OP wants Nanny to live in, and is using the public school to bait the hook.

Come on people. It's a weird scenario. I'd be uncomfortable with it as well.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I told her I wouldn't mind talking to the public school (great school btw) to allow her child to go there and she refused since she really wants private school for her kid.

Why would you need to talk to her public school so it will allow her child to go there?

Because OP is Lady Patroness, did you not know?
She has to do right by her retinue.

(no amount of talking will get the school to accept out of bounds kids, but shh - don't tell her)

Oooh, I bet it's because nanny does not live in DC, while OP does. So nanny can use OP's address to get her kid into the DC public school (cheating), while OP's upper class kid floats serenely off to GDS.

Trying to sneak into the DC public school system -- now THAT's a funny thought! Especially on a forum dominated by parents trying to escape the abysmal DC public school system.